Benifits Of Lunge Exercise

Lunges are a great part of an exercise routine if you know how to perform them correctly and safely. Unfortunately, not everyone does, so you should always seek advice to make sure that you are not straining your muscle incorrectly. A rough guide to make sure that you do them correctly is to do as follows:

How To Do The Lunge

Stand with your feet together and step one leg forwards, bending it at the knee. Do not bend too far, and make sure your back remains upright. Your knee should be in line above your ankle, not in front of it. Try one in front of a full length mirror if you are unsure if you may be lunging too far. Your back leg will be bent, with weight on your toes, at an almost 90 degree angle, the same as your front leg. Your back knee should not touch the floor, or you are going too low, you want it to hover just above it.

What are Lunges Good For?

Lunges are great as a stretch for warming up the body for exercise, or helping stretch the muscles out after it. Sports that use the same muscles lunges can help with include soccer (football), tennis, skiing, rugby and most sports where you will be actively moving around a lot. By performing lunges before an afterwards you will get the benefit of looser muscles which will not feel stiff after exercise and help disperse the build up of lactic acid on your muscles that would occur if you just suddenly stopped the sport. Never perform lunges if they hurt though, you may have gained an injury and should get this checked over, so rest for at least a few days.

Lunges are a beneficial exercise as they stretch several major leg muscles, such as your ham string and quadriceps. This will help the overall strength of both the top and bottom parts of your leg and mean that you will build up the ability to have them help put a lot of power behind your movements. They are an excellent individual exercise as they slot easily into a routine and can also be varied a lot. Try walking lunges, for example, or reverse lunges. You can also add weights in your hands, or a barbell, so you can work on other muscle groups at the same time as your legs.

Remember

Lunges are very versatile and an excellent addition to any strength building exercise routine.